A day in the life of a Teacher

I very much enjoy being a teacher. I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to witness and minister to these students and their families. But there as some days when I ask myself if it's all just too much. Case in point today...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

8:00am    Arrive at school;
                check mailbox;
                prepare for the morning
8:20am    Open door and greet students; answer parent questions;
                help students unpack
8:30am    Class begins; Morning Routing + Seatwork + Pledges
9:00am    ELL gets pulled out for tutoring
9:10am    Pledges + Bible
9:45am    Recess + Monitoring outside + Help students with Math
10:00am  Spelling/Grammar + principal observes in the back
11:00am  Language Arts/Reading + principal leaves
11:25am  Pray for lunch; Lunch
11:30am  Make sure students washed hands
               Check to see that students seated and eating
11:35am  Grab my lunch; return to classroom; forget that I need to pee
11:40am  Students come in to make up work
12:15pm  Rest of the class files in
12:25pm  Sustained Silent Reading
12:45pm  Computers
12:15pm  Math
1:30pm    History
2:00pm    Recess; group of students stay in to finish work
2:20pm    Students write down HW and pack up; send to Mandarin; go pee
2:30pm    "Teach" MS Photoshop
3:15pm    Bell rings
               Scold the 8th graders who were not on task + lying
3:20pm    Thank co-worker for covering for me the past 10 mins
               Dismiss students/wait for parent pick-up
3:30pm    Prep for meeting + search for interpreter
3:45pm    Meeting with principal and parents commences
5:50pm    Parent leaves
6:15pm    Meeting comes to an end

I missed praise practice, finally had a moment to sit and think, had a headache, couldn't believe how much I had talked, couldn't believe my day's back-to-back schedule (no recess either!), allergies started acting up again, refuse to stay late working tonight, plan to sit in a quiet and dark room, noticed that objects further than 3 feet away were fuzzy, wanted to cry (but told myself that it was not professional to do such a thing), found Husband and got a big "bear hug." No place like Pooki's arms after a long, winding day. :)

6:30pm   Husband knows it was a long day + picks up some sushi
               Feel so touched by Husband's sweet gesture and surprise
               Forget surroundings and gobble down yummy treat
7:45pm   Grab a caramel sundae from McD's
7:50pm   Excited to go to Home Sweet Home
              Husband reminds me that our nook is just a temporary tent and heaven is our real home